Have a good holly jolly Christmas

Shepard loved Christmas music this year. Particularly the instrumental "Sleigh Bells" remixed with "Santa Claus' Party" from the Elf soundtrack and "Holly Jolly Christmas." He kept asking why are they saying "Holly Jolly," and all I could come up with was "it means really good." So he sings it "Have a good holly jolly Christmas" now.
The WHYs are killing us. And fascinating. He analyzes EVERYTHING. From pictures in storybooks, "Why is the man driving that truck?" to weather "Why are the clouds smoky?"...to everything. It's non-stop. I'm doing my darndest to answer all of them patiently and with good age-appropriate facts. However, when he asks my why his pee pee has an "egg," I defer to the Husband.
I digress.
Christmas was mostly lovely. After a whirlwind few weeks leading up to the actual vacation (oh Lord, why was it so crazy!?), we were blessed to have a long span of days together with family. We even got our Illinois family for Christmas this year!!! Then, Shepard got a little virus just in time for Christmas Eve, Day and part of the 26th. He was barely sick all year, then got wiped out for the biggest 48 hour timeframe. Sigh.

Here's a photo recap.

Lego table!

Capturing both of us smiling with eyes open is like getting Bigfoot on film.

More legos

Grandma assists with present-opening

Christmas Day. Feeling ok enough to open a few gifts

Yay for presents!

Books with steering wheels!

Illinois family at Grandma's house

Gigi and Pops sort out the train situation

"Kindergarten toys!" from Harry and Suzette

All the blondies...

It seemed that the pile of presents was never-ending.

Melissa and I doing a selfie...for two. With elfie.

Go Panthers!

Look at our cool helmets!

Gridiron Cousins

All the Jones boys with all the kids

Thanksgiving

Yes, it's the middle of December. No, I don't know what happened to this year.

Here are some highlights from Thanksgiving at Grandma's house:

Aunt Jessica and Cousin Micah hanging out

Cousin Madeleine shares the iPad

Morning snuggles

Hi, Uncle Justin. Grandma is back there workin' up a storm....

Selfie with Shepard

Uncle Matt give Regis some love

Twas the night after Thanksgiving and all through the house...

We're wearing our jammies and hangin' at the house...

TURKEY!

Cousins at play

Harvest Day at School

Shepard's school recently did a harvest day. They baked apple pie and pumpkin bread in class and practiced acting out a book. Shepard plays the role of an enormous turnip, with the help of some of his friends. He is in a plaid shirt. We had a good time playing "tossed salad" and having snacks in his class. I watched him POUR APPLE JUICE into his own cup. Without spilling. Amazing what they have these 3-year-olds doing. Do note that his class is 3 - 4 year olds with several turning 5 in the fall as well.

We had lots of fun.

TRICK OR TREAT!

This was Shepard's very first Halloween that he knew what was going on. Last year's endeavor into costuming and candy-collecting was a bust. This year, he really wanted to be a "superhero." He didn't really have one in mind, so I made up Super Shepard and made him a logo.

First, we went to an on-campus event that was like a festival and trick-or-treating in the residence hall. That was on Tuesday. He had a blast. I couldn't find his mask, and he didn't want to wear one anyway, so I grabbed the yellow wig I had in my office (for such a time as this...and for Winthrop basketball games)...and he LOVED it. It worked well with his costume.

On Halloween, we went to his teacher's house first (she said we could). He was very excited to see his teacher come to the door and give him candy! Then, we went to some friends' neighborhood and got down to business. However, Super Shepard was quickly done after a handful of houses. We were able to see some great decorations, though and had fun.

We found his "super hero twin" in the residence hall handing out candy!

He got the hang of "trick or treat" pretty quickly.

In all his glory.

Daddy and Super Shepard play a game at the festival

It was fun to trick or treat with a co-worker friend and her girl.

It was tough to get my super hero to stand still

It's a super bucket!

First one up the stairs at the residence hall

Jerod carved an AMAZING Carolina Panthers pumpkin...

Mommy as Rosie the Riveter "flying" Super Shepard after real trick or treating.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere.

We got to go on a little field trip with class to the pumpkin patch. We had real, live police escorts shutting down the streets for us! God bless those teachers. They earn every penny. It's stressful keeping up with that many 3-4 year olds!

But fun too.

Rock-tober--PICTURE EDITION!

I simply love October. Cool air, astonishing sunsets, lots of family birthdays to celebrate, fall festivals. I mean. Does it get better? All that awesome-sauce without the stress of Christmas just yet?

We've been having some fun...

Play-doh night with Daddy

Always my jumping super-hero

Hanging out with the Jones clan for Grandma and Aunt Jessica's birthday celebration...

Dino-Shepard

My cousin-of-a-cousin BFF.

Go Eagles longhair.

And of course, we had to hit up a fall festival! We were there with friends, but when you're all chasing your respective progeny, it's sometimes hard to get a group photo.

My pumpkin

sandbox is always a hit

Giant RED TRACTOR!

Daddy is standing on the back...but that was one big tractor!

Along came a spider and sat down beside him

All three of us looking at the camera would be a miracle

HAY. RIDE.

Some of our friends from church.

Running through the mini-maze

Sad pumpkin. It did not make it.

What a nice little vignette they set up!

Fun water pumps with ducks

On Sunday, we got to participate in the York County CROP walk with Shepard's school. Several hundred folks did a walk to raise money for hunger. Team Jones raised $75! Thanks, everyone! We did a one-mile mini-walk through Winthrop campus. Shepard brought along his trumpet and did great walking.

Prepping for the CROP walk at Winthrop (see Tillman tower in background)

Picture in the Herald (Jerod and Shepard on far right)

Waiting to cross the street on our CROP walk with his preschool director